NYC Metro Ranking: Hofstra Back to #1

What did it take for Marist to drop from the top spot in
the Metro Area basketball poll? Look no further than the gimpy ankle of one
Jared Jordan, who has been dealing with the injury for a couple of weeks now. As
Jordan goes, so go the Red Foxes, and that’s what happened in their 77-69 loss
at Loyola (MD) last week. Of course, it doesn’t help that Greyhound guard Gerald
Brown went for 33 in the win, but Marist did recover from the setback to defeat
Rider and Iona in their next two. The new number one is Hofstra, winners of five
straight, including Monday’s 70-58 home win over Old Dominion. Next up for the
Pride is a trip to Drexel in a meeting of 4-0 teams in the Colonial Athletic
Association.

Seton Hall and St. John’s showed glimpses of what can make
them successful, as well as what could be their downfall in the Big East this
year. The Pirates used their activity to defeat in-state rival Rutgers, but then
were abused inside by the combination of Geoff McDermott and Herbert Hill in a
91-69 loss at Providence. St. John’s welcomed back forward Aaron Spears in their
win over DePaul, a game in which the Red Storm harassed the Blue Demons to the
tune of 32.8% shooting from the field. Unfortunately for the Red Storm, they
followed that effort with their worst display since the Maryland debacle, a
73-46 beating at the hands of West Virginia.

Army, seen by some as benefactors of a schedule that could
be described as less than strenuous overall, lost their league opener to Colgate
73-71. The Black Knights then fell to emerging Patriot League favorite Holy
Cross 66-42 to fall to 0-2 in the conference. The Black Knights have improved,
but Patriot League play will be the true harbinger of just how much. St.
Francis, a team that always seems to play solid defense, found their offensive
groove in an impressive 68-52 win at LIU Monday night. The Terriers were led by
Robert Hines’ 23 points and Kayode Ayeni added 14 off the bench. On the flip
side of SFNY’s improvement is Iona, still winless after Tuesday’s 87-65 loss at
Marist. Below are a couple of games in the area over the next couple of days to
keep an eye on.

St. John’s @ Seton Hall, Thursday 7:00 EST

This will be an
interesting game to watch. On one side you have a St. John’s team that has
struggled mightily at times to put the ball in the basket. It’s no secret that
the Red Storm offense goes through Lamont Hamilton inside, and they should look
here first in order to take advantage of Seton Hall’s lack of size. On the other
side is a Seton Hall team that wants to run and force turnovers with their
pressure defense. The strategy has been successful at times for the Hall, but if
you watched the Providence game on Saturday you were treated to a layup line.
It’s early in Big East play, but it is a game essential to two 1-1 clubs that
will need this one in order to assure a trip to the Big East Tournament.

Hofstra @ Drexel, Thursday 8:00 EST

I don’t make
designations for a “Game of the Week”, but if you’ve paid any attention to the
Colonial Athletic Association this year then you know just how important this
one is. Both teams sit atop the league standings, tied with Virginia
Commonwealth at 4-0 in league play. Drexel has already made news this season
with wins over the likes of Villanova, Syracuse, and St. Joseph’s. Bruiser
Flint’s squad is experienced and balanced, led by the backcourt of Bashir Mason
and Dominic Mejia, and center Frank Elegar, the team’s leading scorer. Whether
or not Hofstra leaves Philadelphia with a win depends on how Mike Davis-Sabb and
Chris Gadley perform against Elegar and senior forward Chaz Crawford. Crawford
leads the CAA in rebounds with ten per game. Second place in that category
(Vladimir Kuljanin of UNC Wilmington) averages 7.7 boards per game. Look for the
Hofstra guards (Loren Stokes, Antoine Agudio and Carlos Rivera) to lend a hand
in the rebounding department. Do not miss this game.

Xavier @ Fordham, Thursday 8:00 EST

The Rams will
host the preseason pick to win the Atlantic 10 in a key game for both squads.
The Musketeers, 1-0 in conference play, have won three straight (Illinois,
Kansas State, Temple) since their loss to Queen City rival Cincinnati. Five
Muskies average at least seven points per game, and Oklahoma transfer Drew
Lavender has given Sean Miller a true point guard, something last season’s
conference tournament champions lacked. Fordham has been plagued by inconsistent
play all year, but they do come off of a win at Richmond on Saturday. If the
Rams want to entertain any thoughts of having an impact on the conference race,
they need to take care of business at home.

Manhattan @ Iona, Friday 9:00 EST

Sometimes,
there’s no better motivation for a struggling team than the sight of a bitter
rival. Iona fans are hoping that this is indeed the case on Friday night as the
Jaspers visit the 0-14 Gaels. Despite their early season struggles, Barry
Rohrssen’s bunch is 3-1 in the MAAC and is riding a three-game winning streak.
Returnees Devon Austin and Arturo Dubois have led the way, but how about
freshman guard Darryl Crawford? Crawford, a 6’4 native of Harlem, is averaging
9.9 points per game for the Jaspers. Iona will counter with senior forward
Anthony Bruin and recent addition Dexter Gray, a transfer from St. John’s. Games
on TV Friday night are few and far between, so you may as well check this one
out.

Pennsylvania @ Columbia, Saturday 7:00 EST

This is the
second half of the Princeton/Penn home stand for the Lions, who have the
unenviable task of opening Ivy League play with the league’s most successful
programs. The Quakers, picked to win the league, have been tested plenty to this
point in the season thanks to a schedule that included Syracuse, Drexel,
Villanova and North Carolina. A lot of talk before the season began focused on
the Preseason Player of the Year Ibrahim Jaaber, but it’s senior forward Mark
Zoller that has paced the Quakers (19.2 ppg, 8.0 rpg) to this point. Zoller’s
matchup with Columbia’s John Baumann will be one to watch. This much can be said
about Columbia: we’ll learn a lot more about their chances to compete in the Ivy
League after this weekend than we did in their 87-38 pasting of Marywood on
Saturday.

Here are the updated rankings.

Hofstra (last week: 2): The Pride head into
their biggest game of the year (to this point) riding a five-game win
streak.

St. John’s (3): The Red Storm and Seton Hall
stay put because no one behind them did enough to warrant being moved up
this high. St. John’s has one major problem: inconsistency on the offensive
end. During one stretch they’re adequate, the next: deplorable.

Seton Hall (4): See previous statement.
Seton Hall, as seen in their loss at Providence, will have a tough time
slowing down some of the better big men in the Big East.

Fordham (6): Although the Rams lost to
defending league champion George Washington, they followed that up with a
win at Richmond.

Army (5): Improving their standing in the
Patriot League will not be an easy task for the Black Knights, but at least
they don’t have to play Holy Cross every night.

Sacred Heart (7): The Pioneers had done a good
job of hanging in at Mount St. Mary’s, trailing 36-34 at the half. Then they
gave up 55 points in the second stanza. The good news is that their 3-1
record has them in second place in the NEC.

Columbia (8): The Lions won two that they were
supposed to, a 55-54 squeaker over Lehigh followed by the aforementioned
whipping of Marywood. Marywood is not Princeton or Penn, their next two
opponents.

Fairleigh Dickinson (10): Thanks to their 96-95
win over Wagner on Saturday, the Knights are the NEC’s lone undefeated team.
After hosting St. Francis (PA), things get tougher with Robert Morris (1/13)
and a trip to New Britain to take on Central Connecticut State (1/18).

Manhattan (13): The Jaspers won at Pepperdine,
and then kept the momentum rolling with wins over Fairfield and Canisius.
Things are looking up for this team, but it remains to be seen if the
Jaspers can stay with Marist, Siena and Loyola (MD) in the MAAC.

Stony Brook (9): After losing two games by
double digits to Vermont and UMBC, the Seawolves recovered nicely in
knocking off Binghamton at home Tuesday night.

St. Francis-NY (15): I know, I know. How can
the Terriers move up three spots? Well, none of the teams below them this
week deserved to move into this spot, and the Terriers have improved on the
offensive end of late.

Long Island (11): The Blackbirds suffered a
hangover from their four overtime loss to Mount St. Mary’s, falling 68-52 to
St. Francis (NY) on Monday night.

Wagner (12): If they didn’t have bad luck,
they’d have none. The Seahawks fell 96-95 in overtime to Fairleigh
Dickinson, losing out on a road win that would have done wonders for the
team’s confidence.

St. Peter’s (14): The Peacocks will look to end
their seven-game losing streak this weekend when Canisius and Manhattan
visit the Yanitelli Center.

Fairfield (16): The Stags will look to end
their four-game losing streak this weekend when Rider visits Harbor Yard.

NJIT (17): The Highlanders, losers of thirteen
straight, will look to end the skid at home against Longwood on Wednesday
before they head out on a five-game road trip.

Iona (18): “One is the loneliest number that
you’ll ever know”. The Gaels remain Division I’s lone winless team. But if
Cal Tech can end a 59-game losing streak (go to
http://www.athletics.caltech.edu/sports/mbb/mbb.html to see the
headline), Iona can end a fourteen-game slide.

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About Raphielle Johnson

ColumnistAssistant Editor

Contactraphiellej@aol.com

Background

College sports has always been a source of excitement for Raphielle Johnson, be it through watching, writing, or taking a shot in the dark and walking onto a college football team just to live the life (Arizona Football, 2001). Raphielle is the assistant editor, providing his own work in addition to helping out with the site operations. When not writing for CHN, you can usually find him in front of a television set watching one of many pay-per-view sports packages that he owns. He can be followed at twitter.com/raphiellej.